During the recent political hysteria surrounding the US-Mexico border, I took a stroll around my new neighborhood in South Texas, near the Rio Grande. It was a nice day – not too hot or humid.
Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas were using people as political billboards by sending people released by border agents to cities across the US. Just weeks later, the Biden administration would soon send its own border message by making a deal to turn many Venezuelan asylum seekers back to Mexico.
Against this backdrop, as I was walking, I glanced up at the border wall and locked eyes with a Border Patrol agent cruising along on an all-terrain vehicle. Moment later, the agent suddenly appeared alongside me, and asked, “Where are you going?” Knowing he was exceeding his authority, I didn’t answer, and likely for the same reason, he didn’t insist – but soon other agents showed up to monitor my walk.
Another Border Patrol agent, in a video recorded earlier this year by the National Butterfly Center in the Rio Grande Valley, claimed it was his job to identify anyone and everyone along the border, a staggering overreach. Texas guardsmen have told me, with no basis, that the area around the river is off-limits.
Such encounters reflect the political messaging that dominates border politics: the border is the domain of law enforcement, a lawless site requiring relentless warfare. Imagined as a remote outpost by many Americans, the border has long been perceived as distant to US life. But border politics powerfully influences state and federal elections and public spending, and fortifies an expression of national and identity politics.
Without an alternate border vision, Americans of all political backgrounds are subjected to demagoguery and delusional narratives that offer no solutions to the real challenges of managing migration at the 1,933-mile southern boundary.
R&I~Smit
Just Think
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/04/opinions/border-political-delusions-garcia/index.html